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Did you get out and re-tighten the suspension after occupying the hammock to take out all the stretch you could and repeat that cycle until you could not take out anymore stretch before you measured the smallest angle you could obtain? Did the results vary with the different suspension ropes? How were you securing, or tying off, the suspension ropes to keep them under tension?

Re-tighten?? yes and no. I found out that using polyester tree hugger webbing and the dyneema suspension ropes the stretch is negligible and so after about 2 or 3 hangs the suspension doesn't stretch anymore. Re-tightening is no longer necessary. So did I re-tighten - yes the first couple of times the suspension ropes were used and not after that. I periodically measure the sag angle just to re-assure myself that I have things setup as I like it. Tastes do shift gradually over time as I adapt to different situations. So I measure to see if my preference in sag has changed.

After the stretch is out, there has been no need to repeat the tighten, occupy/stretch, re-tighten. The first setup does it and the sag angle doesn't change. I have affirmed this by setting up, measuring, having the hammock occupied and measuring, getting out and measuring again, occupying and measuring. No change in either the occupied or unoccupied the sag angles, which consistently differ by about 2 to 3 degrees. This obviously requires 2 people to occupy and measure, but other than that it's dead simple so long as one person can read the scale on the inclinometer and that also is dead simple.

Differ with different suspension ropes? Well if you look at the type of ropes I used they are all dyneema. The Spyderline is a dyneema core with a polyester sheath. The others, Lash-it, Amsteel and AS-78 and all coated with a Samson proprietary coating. The results were consistent across all of them.

I was using my Carabiner Hitch method which I detailed in these posts. The method has a mechanical advantage built in. Usually I just used the basic 3:1 advantage. I didn't find going any higher necessary for me. I liked the Carabiner Hitch better than a Trucker's Hitch since the abrasion on the rope was negligible and the loss in mechanical advantage due to friction is also almost negligible. The friction, and hence abrasion, is the biggest disadvantage of the Trucker's Hitch.

With my version of the SLS method I use now, I choose the desired sag angle before hanging the suspension and set the sag angle when I tie the final end bowline knot. On spans over 18' I have found that using a 22 or 20 degree sag angle is almost mandatory for me. With spans of 14' to 16', I like a 24 degree sag angle and about 28 degrees below 14'. I don't use anything below a 28 degree sag angle since the sag angle my Bridge suspension triangle makes with the ridge line is almost exactly 30 degrees and hence with a 30 degree sag angle at the tree, the ridge line is hanging limp and pretty useless for accessories.

Easily re-tightening the suspension line to adjust the height of the hammock is one of the reasons people use ring buckles and cinch buckles with hammocks. The process of getting in a hammock with a structural ridgeline that has been pulled tightly, then getting out and re-tightening the suspension to take out stretch in order to raise it, and repeating that process again and again is the issue I was discussing because that process results in the minimum suspension angle. Even though we know that is not a good way to do it, not everyone sets their hammock up the same way.

Easily re-tightening the suspension line to adjust the height of the hammock is one of the reasons people use ring buckles and cinch buckles with hammocks. The process of getting in a hammock with a structural ridgeline that has been pulled tightly, then getting out and re-tightening the suspension to take out stretch in order to raise it, and repeating that process again and again is the issue I was discussing because that process results in the minimum suspension angle.

The fact that I don't need to re-tighten has nothing to do with the method of suspension, but rather to the use of suspension materials with minimal stretch and for practical purposes no stretch.

Originally Posted by Youngblood

Even though we know that is not a good way to do it, not everyone sets their hammock up the same way.

Agreed that everyone sets-up their hammock to suit their own tastes. It would be very boring otherwise.